A Call to Break the Cycle: Jacob Blake
On August 23, a White police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin shot a Black man named Jacob Blake in the back seven times as he got into the car where his three sons, aged three, five, and eight, looked on from the back seat. Seven times. In the back. His oldest son was celebrating his eighth birthday.
This horrific incident, another in a long history of violence against Black people by the police, is a heartbreaking reminder of the vicious cycle of racism that plagues people of color in our society and touches every member of our community.
When Jacob Blake’s children go back to school, they will carry the memory of this incident in their hearts and minds. Witnessing violence against a close family member – especially violence perpetrated by an authority figure who is supposed to protect you – can cause a severe trauma response. A powerful trauma response can make learning nearly impossible for a child.
Schools have the power to provide warm, trauma-sensitive, safe and supportive environments that support students like Blake’s children to heal and go on to be successful. But too often, schools exacerbate traumatic impacts by perpetuating structural racism, propelling racism’s cycle into the next generation. Racially inequitable school discipline practices, the school-to-prison pipeline, and segregation of children of color with autism all point to the disturbing reality that our schools often create a harmful learning environment for Black children.
The cycle continues.
Thankfully, Jacob Blake has survived the shooting as of this writing, though he is paralyzed from waist down. Like so many people of color, he has now acquired a disability as a result of racist violence. Blake now joins a community of disabled people of color who live at the dangerous intersection of racism and ableism. Again, the cycle continues.
All of us – as members of society, as child advocates, as disability advocates, as racial justice advocates, as educators, as parents, as human beings – have a responsibility to stop it in its tracks.
Further Reading
At MAC, we’re committing to breaking the cycle of racist violence by redoubling our anti-racist work. Read more: